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A great read on exactly this issue is A New Green History of the World by Clive Ponting. Noticed it is cited in the page linked but wanted to call it out specifically since I have read it and really enjoyed it as a history of human civilization from the perspective of resource availability and utilization.

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Thanks for the recommend. I'll reciprocate with a rec of Arnold Toynbee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_J._Toynbee), who wrote about the cyclical nature of civilizations and societies with a blend of perspectives from various fields, rather than the basic 'flow of history.'

Jared Diamond has some good stuff too. Check out 'Collapse'.

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